SB 981 
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SB 981 
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1911 
Copy 1 



Union Calendar No. 326. 



5T Congress, ) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, j Report 

3d Session. j ( No. 1858. 



QUARANTINE AGAINST IMPORTATION OF DISEASED 
NURSERY STOCK. 



January 6, 1911. 



-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
the Union and ordered to be printed. 



u-.i' w:»»<>, "'"''-^'f 



Mr. McLaughlin, from the Committee on Agriculture, submitted the 

following 

REPORT. 



[To accompany H. R. 26897.] 

The Committee on Agriculture, having had under consideration the 
bill (H. R. 26897) to provide for the introduction of foreign nursery 
stock by permit only, and to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture 
to establish a quarantine against the importation and against the 
transportation in interstate commerce of diseased nursery stock 
infested with injurious insects, and making an appropriation to carry 
the same into effect, report thereon with the recommendation that 
it be amended as follows: 

On page 2, line 21, strike out the words "July first, nineteen 
hundred and ten," and insert the words "this act takes effect." 

On page 7, line 4, insert the words "twenty-five thousand." 

On page 7, lines 4, 5, and 6, strike out the words "to be available 
on the day of , nineteen hundred and ten." 

Strike out section 14. 

Change the number of section 15, making it number 14; and that 
the bill as thus amended do pass. 

The bill amended as above is as follows: 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled, That whenever in this bill the term "nursery stock" is used 
it shall be construed as including field-grown florists' stock, trees, shrubs, plants, 
vines, cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, fruit pits or seeds of fruit, and ornamental trees or 
shrubs. 

Sec. 2. That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to import into the United 
States any nursery stock except under special permit from the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. If importation of such stock is not forbidden by the Secretary 
of Agriculture by virtue of the authority conferred upon him by this act, surh permit 
shall be issued by him to the importer on the receipt of an application stating the 
number and kind of nursery stock to be imported, the country and district where 
grown, name and address of the shipper, the port of entry, approximate date of the 
arrival of such nursery stock, and the name of the importer or consignee and desti- 
nation; that all such nursery stock shall be subject to inspection by official experts 
of the Department of Agriculture at final destination on the premises of the owner or 
consignee. 



2 IMPORTATION OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. o^A , < , 

Sec. 3. That the Secretary of Agriculture may at any time extend the provisions 
of this act to fruits and vegetables or bulbs, or to other plants or seeds not specified in 
this act and imported from foreign countries, whenever he shall deem such action 
necessary to prevent the entry with such products or stock of dangerous insects or 
plant diseases. 

Sec. 4. That it shall be unla^A-ful for any transportation company, person, or persons, 
except as hereinafter provided, after this act takes effect, to offer for entry at any 
port in the United States any nursery stock unless accompanied by a certificate of 
inspection by an official expert of the country from which the importation is made, 
which certificate shall be made in the manner and form prescribed by the Secretary 
of Agriculture, certifying that the contents have been examined and found to be 
apparently free from all dangerously injurious insect pests or plant diseases: Provided, 
That any nursery stock or other described articles offered for entry without such 
certificate shall be held in quarantine, either at final destination on the premises of 
the owner or consignee, or at port of entry or other designated place, at the option of 
the Secretary of Agriculture, and shall not be released by the otlicial expert until its 
or their freedom from dangerous insect pests or plant diseases shall have been fully 
established by inspection or treatment. 

Sec. 5. That any transportation company, person, or persons, who shall receive, 
bring, or cause to be brought into the United States any nursery stock shall, within 
twenty-four hours after arrival thereof, notify the official expert of their arrival and 
delivery to the consignee. The latter shall hold the same, without unnecessarily 
moving or placing such articles where they may be harmful, for the immediate inspec- 
tion of such official expert. The official expert or his representative is hereby author- 
ized and empowered to enter into any warehouse or premises of consignee or owner, 
or any other place where such nursery stock or other described articles are received, 
for the purpose of making the inspection or examination herein provided for, and 
such examination shall be begun and, if possible, completed within ten days of such 
arrival thereof. 

Sec. 6. That each case, box, package, crate, bale, or bundle of nursery stock im- 
ported or brought into the United States shall have plainly and legibly marked thereon 
the name and address of the shipper, owner, or person forwarding or shipping the 
same, and also the name of the person, firm, or corporation to whom the same is for- 
warded or shipped, or his or its responsible agent; also the name of the country and 
district where the contents were grown. 

Sec. 7. That when any shipment of nursery stock imported or brought into the 
United States is found to be infested with injurious insects or their eggs, larvee, or 
pupae, or there is reason to believe that it is infested with tree, plant, or fruit disease 
or diseases, the entire shipment, or so much thereof as the official expert shall deem 
necessary, shall be disinfected at the expense of the owner, owners, or agent. After 
such disinfection it shall be detained in quarantine a necessary time to determine 
the result of such disinfection. If the disinfection has been so performed as to destroy 
all insects or their eggs, larvae, or pupae, and so as to eradicate all disease and prevent 
contagion, and in a manner satisfactory to the officiaL expert, the trees, vines, or other 
articles shall then be released. If it be not practicable to fully disinfect such stock, 
it, or such portion of it as shall remain infested, shall be destroyed. 

Sec 8. That whenever it shall appear to the Secretary of Agriculture that any 
nursery stock or other article described in section three of this act, grown in an infested 
country, district, department, or locality outside of the United States, are being or 
are about to be imported into the United States, or the District of Columbia, and such 
nursery stock or other article is infested by any seriously injurious insect or disease 
which is liable to become established in the United States, he shall have authority 
to quarantine against such importations from said country, district, department, or 
locality, and prevent the same until such time as it may appear to him that any such 
insect or disease has been exterminated or is under adequate control, when he may 
withdraw the quarantine. 

Sec. 9. That upon complaint or reasonable ground on the part of the Secretary of 
Agriculture to believe that any nursery stock or other article mentioned in this act 
grown within the United States and likely to become subject of interstate commerce 
IS infested with injurious insects or diseases new to the United States, the Secretary 
of Agriculture shall cause the same to be inspected by a qualified expert, and if need 
be placed under quarantine until such infestation is removed or is under adequate 
control. 

Sec. 10. That it shall be unlawful for any person, persons, or corporations to 
deliver to any other person, persons, or corporation, or to the postal service of the 
United States (except for scientific purposes, and by permission of the Secretary of 
Agriculture), for transportation from one State or Territory or the District of Columbia 

11 1911 



IMPORTATION OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. 3 

to any other State or Territory or the District of Columbia, or for exportation to any 
foreign country, any trees, plants, shrubs, vines, or other nursery stock or other 
^^ article to which this act may be extended which are under quarantine in accordance 
— withlthe provisions of section seven of this act, or which, on said examination, have 
<^> been^declared by the inspector to be infested with dangerously injurious insects or 
"^ diseases. 

^ Sec. 11. That any person, persons, firm, or corporation who shall forge, counter- 

■ feit, or knowingly alter, deface, or destroy any certificate or copy thereof, as provided 

," forjin this act and in the regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture, or shall in any 

i way violate the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and 

C3^ on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars 

nor less than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment not to exceed one year, or 

both, at the discretion of the court. 

Sec. 12. That the rules and regulations herein provided for shall be promulgated 
on or before the first day of June of each year. 

Sec. 13. That the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may 
be necessary is hereby appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury of the United 
States not otherwise appropriated, to carry into effect the provisions of this act. 

Sec. 14. That the provisions of this act shall not prevent the inspection of any 
nursery stock or other described articles by the authorized inspector of any State or 
Territory at the final point of destination in accordance with the laws of such State 
or Territory. 

EXPLANATION OF THE SECTIONS OF THE BILL. 

Section 1 defines nursery stock as meant in the bill, to avoid 
unnecessary repetition. 

Section 2 provides for the introduction of foreign nursery stock 
by the permit system, and, further, that all such nursery stock 
shall be mspected at final destination. The issuance of this permit 
is mandatory except in cases of quarantine, and its main object is 
to give the department advance information of the intended impor- 
tation, together with probable date of arrival, so that arrangements 
can be properly made for prompt inspection. The examination at 
final destination on the premises of the owner or consignee insures 
to the importer the least possible risk of damage to his stock. 

Section 3 empowers the Secretary of Agriculture to extend the 
provisions of the act to fruits and vegetables, bulbs, or other plants 
or seeds not specified in the act, whenever such action shall be 
deemed necessary to keep out dangerous insects or plant diseases. 

Section 4 provides that all foreign-grown plant stock must be 
accompanied by a certificate by a foreign official expert, showing 
freedom from infestation, and provides for the quarantining of any 
foreign stock which shall come without such certificate until it has 
been properly inspected and passed. The object of this certificate 
is not necessarily to serve as a guarantee of the freedom of such 
certified stock from infestation. All such stock will be again exam- 
ined on its arrival at destination. The requirement of this certifi- 
cate will place the responsibility for infested shipment with the 
foreign official expert, and will undoubtedly lead to closer supervi- 
sion and raise the grade of stock exported to this country. 

Section 5 provides for the notification of quarantine officer of the 
arrival of plant stock, and for the inspection of the same, if possible, 
within 10 days. 

Section 6 provides for the proper labeling of an}^ packages, etc., 
containing nursery stock, the data required being essential for the 
information and guidance of the inspector and the records of the 
department. 



4 IMPORTATION OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. 

Section 7 provides for the disinfection, necessary detention, 
quarantining, or destruction of infested stock. 

Section 8 provides for quarantining of foreign districts containing 
some insect or disease infestation of particular plant or plants, which, 
infestation can not be kept out of this country by inspection and dis- 
infection, such quarantine to remain until such insects or disease 
shall have been eradicated or shall be under adequate control. 

Section 9 provides for quarantining limited districts within the 
United States found to be infested by new injurious insects or new 
diseases until such insect or disease shall have been exterminated or 
shall be under adequate control. This applies to the quarantining 
and extermination of any new important plant pest which shall have 
gained lodgment in spite of the quarantine and inspection provisions 
of this act. 

Section 10 makes it unlawful to deliver or transport in interstate 
commerce nursery stock quarantined under the provisions of section 
7 (and 9) of this act. 

Section 11 provides for a penalty for forging or counterfeiting 
certificates or for the violation of any provisions of the act. 

Section 12 relates to the promulgation of regulations under the act. 

Section 13 fixes the appropriation to carry the act into effect. 

Section 14. Inspection by authorized State or Territorial inspectors 
at point of destination not prevented by this act. 

There is now no Federal law for inspection of nursery stock brought 
into the United States from foreign countries; there is no Federal 
law to prevent the introduction into this country of plant diseases or 
insect pests. At the present time the Department of Agriculture 
endeavors to learn from customs officials at the ports of entry when 
a shipment of nursery stock is received in this country and its ulti- 
mate destination; the railroad company forwarding the shipment 
notifies the department, and its officials request the authorities of the 
State into which the shipment is being sent to watch for it and to 
provide for its inspection. 

This method of trying to meet the requirements of the situation is 
crude and unsatisfactory. Some of the States have laws for the 
inspection of nursery stock within their own limits, but many States 
have no laws relating to the subject. The Department of Agriculture 
cooperates with State officials where there are State laws providing 
for inspection within the State, but in many States there are no such 
laws, and there is, therefore, no opportunity for cooperation. 

The laws of foreign countries from whicli nursery stock is sent to 
the United States give us no protection whatever. With the excep- 
tion of Holland, no foreign country from which nursery stock is 
brought into the United States has an adequate law for inspection 
of stock shipped to this country, and most of them have no law 
whatever on the subject. But all these foreign countries have drastic 
laws, rigidly enforced, relating to inspection of nursery stock imported 
from the United States. 

The largest part of the nursery stock imported into the United 
States is brought from France, and in that country there is no law 
for inspection of exports. Nurseries in France and in other countries 
from which stock is sent to this country are infested with insect pests. 
These .pests, while occurring in abundance in those countries, are 
not as troublesome nor as dangerous as they are in this country, 



IMPORTATION OP DISEASED NUESEEY STOCK. 5 

because they have parasites and natural enemies pecuHar to their 
home locahties that keep them in check. 

Shipments of nursery stock from foreign countries are usually 
accompanied by certificates issued by some official of the country 
from which they come, but experience has clearly shown that these 
certificates are of no value whatever. They certify in effect that the 
stock has been inspected and is free from disease or pest. Testi- 
mony taken by the committee is all to the effect that exporters of 
nursery stock intended for shipment to the United States have no 
trouble in furnishing certificates, but that there is practically no 
inspection of the stock, and the certificates are without any value 
whatever; that in many cases these certificates are signed by persons 
who never saw the stock, and anybody who is willing to pay the 
necessary fee is able to obtain a certificate. Many instances have 
been known of certificates being issued without date, without date 
of expiration, and without any limit as to time; and the shipments 
so certified have been found badly infested with nests of brown-tail 
moth and other insects. There was evidently no difference of opinion 
expressed by witnesses who appeared before the committee as to the 
value of certificates issued in France, from which country most of 
our nursery stock is received. All agree that certificates issued by 
authorities in France, or accompan3dng shipments from that country, 
are absolutely without value. 

The damage done to the crops and agricultural industries of this 
country through injurious insects alone, not to mention plant dis- 
eases, has been conservatively estimated at from $800,000,000 to 
$900,000,000 a year. By careful study of the points of origin of 
these different insect pests, it has been shown conclusively that over 
half of the first-class insect pests in this country have been acciden- 
tally imported from foreign countries. On the face of it, it would seem 
as though we were suffering damage to the amount of $400,000,000 a 
year from pests that have been accidentally imported in the absence 
of any governmental effort to stop such importations. 

The United States occupies a unique position among the first-class 
nations of the world in that it has no national legislation to prevent 
the introduction of plant diseases and insect pests. 

Pests and diseases have been brought into this country, and it has 
been necessary for the Federal Government to make appropriations 
aggregating many millions of dollars, and for State governments and 
municipalities to expend almost, if not quite, as much more money in 
an effort to stop the ravages of these pests. The brown-tail moth and 
the gypsy moth were introduced into this country by accident, or as 
the result of carelessness because there was no adequate inspection 
law. Brown-tail moth was originally brought into this, country in 
rose bushes shipped from Holland to a point in Massachusetts. These 
pests have spread through Massachusetts and north into New Hamp- 
shire and Maine. They have also made their appearance in New 
York, and the legislature of that State recently appropriated $50,000 
to be used for the purpose of protection against the spread of the pests. 

In addition to the amount appropriated by the Federal Govern- 
ment for the purpose of preventing the spread of the brown-tail and 
gypsy moths, the Legislature of Massachusetts has expended during 
the last 20 years approximately $2,000,000, and large appropriations 



6 IMPORTATION OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. 

have also been made by municipalities, and much money has been 
spent by individuals for the same purpose. 

A new disease of the potato whicli has been causing alarm in 
Europe is liable to be introduced into this country. This disease, 
known as the "potato wart/' appears in the tuber and isjobserved 
only at harvesting time. It is considered one of the most serious of 
know^n diseases of the potato; it ruins the potato and makes it 
absolutely unsalable. A field in which potatoes affected by this 
disease have been growing remains infected so that potatoes can not 
be grown thereon for several years. 

The potato disease has been reported from many places in Great 
Britain, from Germany, and from Hungary. It has not been brought 
into the United States so far as known, bu.t has already crossed the 
Atlantic and become prevalent in Newfoundland, where it was lately 
discovered by Dr. H. T. Gtissow, Dominion botanist, who presented 
a very interesting paper on the subject in December, 1909, before 
the American Phytopathological Society. Knowing the serious char- 
acter of the new pest from personal observation of the losses caused 
in England, he promptly issued a warning bulletin. The Canadian 
Government proposes taking active measures to prevent the further 
introduction of the disease. Dr. Gtissow stated that there have been 
recent importations of seed j^otatoes from Newfoundland into the 
United States. 

At the ])resent time the United States has no legislation that will 
prevent the importation of the potato disease. No quarantine is 
maintained against plant diseases, nor is the Secretary of Agriculture 
authorized to inspect or reject infected potatoes, seeds, or nursery 
stock of any description. 

The hearings before the committee disclosed that there is little if 
any objection to the bill here reported except as to section 8, which 
would give the Secretary of Agriculture authority to quarantine 
importations from any foreign country infested by &nj seriously 
injurious insect or disease which is liable to become established in 
the United States, and to continue such quarantine until such time 
as it may appear that such insect or disease has been exterminated 
or is under adequate control. But this section of the bill may very 
well be said to be its most important and necessary feature. 

The scientists of the Bureau of Entomology testif}^ that some 
insect pests existing in foreign countries and brought into the United 
States are so small they can be seen and distinguished only by micro- 
scopic inspection by an expert entomologist; that some plant dis- 
eases threatening this country can not be discovered or detected by 
any kind of examination of the stock as it is brought in; that these 
diseases are known to exist and their ravages are known in the 
countries from which stock is being imported; that in some cases 
the diseases make their appearance in this country only after the 
stock has been planted here and after the diseases have had time to 
develop; that the presence of some of these diseases has been dis- 
covered and can be discovered only by cutting to pieces the plant 
or tree infested with them; and that protection against these dis- 
eases can be given only by prohibiting importation of the kind of 
stock in which the diseases exist. 

The following paper was prepared b}'" Mr. C. L. Marlatt, Assistant 
Entomologist, Bureau of Entomology, Department of Agriculture. 



IMPORTATION" OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. 7 

It treats fully and ably of plant diseases and insect pests that have 
been imported into the United States, of the immense expense 
attending the efforts of the Federal Government and the States ^to 
combat them, and of the history of legislation on the subject. 

NEED OF NATIONAL CONTROL OP IMPORTED NURSERY STOCK. 

The need of national quarantine legislation for the protection of the fruit and forest 
interests of this country from the accidental introduction of new and dangerous insect 
enemies or plant diseases on imported nursery stock or other living vegetable products 
has been long appreciated, and requires no argument. 

The United States is practically the only one of the great nations of the world which 
is without legislation protecting it in this particular. The considerable lessening of 
yield and higher cost of production of many important staples, particularly fruits, is 
directly chargeable, in large measure, to the lack of such protective legislation in the 
past, as will be shown by a number of illustrations to be subsequently given. Fur- 
thermore, there is now an increased risk in this country over that normally existing 
by the introduction of foreign stock without inspection or other means of safeguarding, 
in that the protection which other countries have from proper legislation naturally 
results in this country being made the dumping ground for refuse and inferior stock. 
This state of affairs was brought out strongly by Dr. J. B. Smith, entomologist of the 
State of New Jersey, in his testimony before the House Committee on Agriculture at 
the last session of Congress. In his testimony Dr. Smith described the importation 
by large department stores of New York and Philadelphia of a mixture of inferior 
stock of fruit and ornamental plants massed down in large boxes, thousands of plants 
in a single case. This largely worthless, and often infested, stock is being distributed 
by these agencies either at a very low price or as gifts to customers,and goes in small 
parcels here and there where it can not be followed, and necessarily entails the greatest 
risk of introduction of dangerous pests or plant diseases. 

The regular importing nurserymen endeavor to get, and do normally get, good 
stock, which generally arrives in fair condition, but often such stock, as will be shown 
later, carries with it the gravest risk of introducing dangerous plant enemies. 

The only important port of this country that has a plant quarantine service is San 
Francisco. There, for the last 20 years, a competent inspection of foreign nursery 
stock and fruits has been maintained by the State authorities. In a single year the 
quarantine ofhcer of San Francisco destroyed over 3,000 trees and plants infested 
with insects new to California, and much other stock has been thoroughly fumigated 
before it has been admitted. During these 20 years a great many dangerous impor- 
tations of insects and diseases have been detected and stopped at the port of San 
Francisco, to the enormous gain of the fruit interests of California and, indirectly, of 
the whole country. 

FOREIGN ORIGIN OF MANY OF OUR INSECT PESTS. 

Fully 50 per cent of the important injurious insect pests in this country are of 
foreign origin. Among these are the codling moth, the Hessian fly, the asparagus 
beetles, the hop-plant louse, the cabbage worm, the wheat-plant louse, oyster-shell 
bark louse, pea weevil, the croton bug, the angoumois gyain moth, and the horn fly of 
cattle, and, in comparatively recent years, such very important pests as the cotton 
boll weevil, the San Jose scale, and the gipsy and brown-tail moths. Many, if not all, 
of these pests, and others not mentioned, could have been kept out or their spread 
much checked if proper quarantine legislation had been available, and the saving to 
this country would have been enormous. 

While it is true that certain ckisses of injurious insect pests, such as the house fly 
and other household insects, and other insects which may be similarly carried in 
ships' cargo or in the packing of merchandise, have been imported, and still will be, 
in spite of any quarantine law, however rigid, it is equally true that the great mass 
of the foreign insect enemies of orchards and forests have come in on nursery and 
ornamental stock, and might have been kept out, in large measure, if an efficient 
quarantine law had been in operation. 

Taking up a few of the insects just mentioned, the codling moth now costs, in loss 
and cost of treatment of trees, $16,000,000 annually; the San Jose scale, similarly in 
loss and cost of treatment of trees, 110,000,000 a year; the Hessian fly probably causes 
an annual loss of $50,000,000, and in some years this loss has reached the enormous 
total of $100,000,000. The loss chargeable to the boll weevil, from the very conserva- 
tive estimate of Mr. W. D. Hunter, amounts to about $25,000,000 a year. 



8 IMPORTATIOISr OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. 

The gipsy moth and brown-tail moth in Massachusetts and portions of other New 
England States are now costing those States, in expenditures merely in efforts at 
control, not counting damage at all, upward of a million. dollars a year. In addition 
to this, the National Government is appropriating $300,000 a year to aid in controlling 
these pests along the highways, and by this means check their more rapid distribution. 
In spite of these efforts and this enormous expenditure, these insects are still slowly 
spreading, and great damage is done yearly to woodlands, private grounds, and 
orchards. The dissemination of these two pests over the whole United States, as is 
extremely likely under present conditions., would entail a like cost throughout the 
country — a tremendous and unnecessary charge on our fruit and forest interests. 

Very careful estimates, based on crop reports and actual insect damage over a series 
of years, show that the loss due to insect pests of fai-m products, including fruits and 
live stock, now reaches the almost inconceivable total of $1,000,000,000 annually. 
The larger percentage of this loss is due to imported insect pests, and much of it 
undoubtedly would have been saved if this country had early enacted proper quar- 
antine and mspection laws. 

DANGER OF ADDITIONAL IMPORTATIONS OF PESTS NEW TO THE UNITED STATES. 

P Great as is the number of foreign insect pests already imported and established in 
the United States there remain many others with equal capacity for harm which for- 
tunately have not yet reached our shores or crossed our borders or at most have infested 
only a limited part of our domain. The prominent examples of locally established 
pests, the general spread of which should be controlled to the utmost, are the gipsy 
and brown-tailed moths. 

Our increasing business relations with China and other oriental countries adds 
enormously to the risk of the importation of new pests. We know very little of the 
injurious insect pests of those countries, and particularly of China, but the importation 
of new stock in the last year or two from China especially has demonstrated the exist- 
ence there of many pests which have not hitherto been known. The power of harm 
of these new pests is abundantly illustrated by the San Jose scale, which is one of the 
earliest of the Chinese insect pests to reach us, and undoubtedly came to this country 
with some ornamental nursery stock sent from north China. 

Among the known foreign insect fruit pests which it is very desirable to keep out 
of this country are the Morellos fruit worm, which is an important enemy of citrus fruits 
in certain parts of Mexico; the olive fruit worm, which occurs throughout the Medi- 
terranean countries where the olive is grown; the mango seed weevil, which has 
been found in imported mango seed during the present year; several fruit scale pests 
known to occur in China, Japan, and other oriental countries, which have records 
for harm quite as great as the San Jose scale; the gypsy and brown-tail moths to regions 
in this country where they do not now occur; and many other equally dangerous insect 
enemies of fruit trees, forest trees, and farm crops kno^vn to occur in foreign countries.^ 

In addition to the danger of importing these insect pests is the risk of bringing in new 
and dangerous plant diseases. Two illustrations of this' danger only will be men- 
tioned, but there are many others equally important. First may be noted a new 
disease of the potato known as the "potato wart," which there is grave risk of estab- 
lishing in this coimtry. This disease, once in the soil, destroys the potato tuber, and 
prevents the culture of this staple. The disease was discovered in Hungary in 1886, 
and has since spread over portions of Europe and into England, where it is causing 
great alarm. It has also established itself in Newfoundland, and it is especially from 
this source that the danger to the United States comes. There is no known remedy 
for the disease, and its existence in the soil practically puts an end to potato culture. 
Its introduction into the United States would result in the loss of millions of dollars 
annually. 

The other disease is the "white pine blister rust," which has caused enormous 
losses in Europe, particularly to nursery stock. This disease has, during the last year 
or two, been imported on nursery stock into a good many of our States and into the 
Province of Ontario, Canada. The greatest effort has been made to stamp it out at 
these points of introduction, and it is hoped that this work has been successful. If 
this disease becomes established in this country it will result in enormous losses ta 
our pine forests. 

Both of these diseases are examples of dangers which can be prevented only by an 
absolute quarantining of the infested foreign districts so far as importations therefrom 
to this country of these particular products are concerned. In other words, these 

1 For a discussion of some of the more important of these, see article entitled " Danger of importing insect 
pests," by L. O. Howard, in Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture for 1897. 



IMPORTATION OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. y 

diseases are often not discoverable by inspection, and can not be destroyed by fumi- 
gation. The pine disease may be present in the pine for two or three years before 
giving any visible demonstration. The potato-tuber disease may be in imported 
tubers and similarly escape detection. 

HISTORY OF EFFORTS TO SECURE NATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

The need of legislation to protect this country from the ingress of foreign insect 
pests and plant diseases has long been felt, but nothing practical has been accom- 
■olished except the local quarantine established by the State of California. 

The first general attempt to secure national legislation resulted from the intro- 
duction of the San Jose scale into the eastern United States and its general distribu- 
tion on nursery stock. 

A'convention was held in Washington in 1897, composed of accredited delegates 
of horticultural societies, nurserymen's associations, State agricultural boards, grange 
alliances, agricultural colleges, and experiment stations, a large and representative 
body of men. After full discussion, a bill was drafted, which included both the in- 
spection of foreign nursery stock and of home-grown stock subject to interstate ship- 
ment. While this measure received the indorsement of the convention and was 
submitted to Congress, it was not heartily pushed and the different interests back of 
it were not fully agreed as to the desirability of all the features of the measure, and 
it was ultimately dropped, with the idea of replacing it by a more suitable bill. 

No agreement was immediately reached, but in December, 1899, a bill ' was in- 
troduced in the House by Mr. Wadsworth, of New York, very similar in purport 
to the draft of 1897. This bill was later (February, 1900) reported favorably from 
the Committee on Agriculture by Mr. Haugen, of Iowa, with the unanimous recom- 
mendation of the committee that it pass. In reporting this bill, Mr. Haugen gave a 
very clear statement of the conditions in the matter of imported nursery stock and 
also home-grown stock, and the arguments for the act, and stated in conclusion that 
"in the opinion of the committee this bill is a step in the right direction and worthy 
of early and favorable consideration." 

Objections were made to this measure again, both by the nurserymen, who feared 
that it might put obstacles in the way of their foreign import business, and also on 
the part of certain State oflacials, who were fearful that the portion relating to in- 
spection of home-grown stock would prove a duplication and unnecessary, and this 
measure also failed of passage. 

The year following this same bill was introduced in the Senate without change, 
except date, by Senator Perkins, of California (S. 5615, 56th Cong., 2d sess., Jan. 17, 
1901), but its passage was not pushed. 

During the succeeding years, either by correspondence or by conferences, an effort 
was made, particularly by the State entomologists and State horticultural inspectors 
on the one side and the American Association of Nurserymen on the other, to draft 
. a bill for recommendation to Congress which would be mutually satisfactory. Finally, 
in 1906, a joint legislative committee was arranged for. representing the Association 
of Official Horticultural Inspectors, the American Association of Nurserymen, and 
the Association of Economic Entomologists. This joint committee adopted a series 
of resolutions the following year, calling for national legislation very similar to that 
recommended by the original convention of 1897, namely, providing for inspection 
and regulation of foreign importations, and also the national stipervision and inspec- 
tion of home-grown nursery stock entering interstate commerce, and further pro- 
viding for the extermination or control of imported insects or plant diseases which 
have only become locally established in the United States. While this program 
of legislation was adopted by the joint committee and was afterwards approved by 
the Association of Official Horticultural Inspectors, it was rejected by the Associa- 
tion of Nurserymen at their meeting of 1908, very largely on the ground of their objec- 
tion to national legislation covering home-grown stock. The Nurserymen's Asso- 
ciation, however, indorsed the movement for proper national legislation to prevent 
the importation of new insect pests on foreign-grown nursery stock. In the same 
year (Feb. 3, 1908) the Wadsworth bill of 1899 was again introduced in the Senate, 
this time by Mr. Flint (S. 4857), and was referred to the Committee on Finance, where 
it died. 

It will be seen from this resume of the efforts to secure national legislation up to 
the end of 1908 that the chief objects aimed at had been two, namely, (1) to provide 
for the inspection and control of imported nursery stock, and (2) to have national 
supervision and inspection of home-grown stock wherever such was to become subject 



1 Fifty-sixth Congress, first session, H. R. 96, Dec. 4, 1899. 



10 IMPORTATION OF DISEASED NUESERY STOCK. 

to interstate sliipment, and the objection on the part of the nurserymen and others 
had always been aimed chiefly at the second of these objects. There had been at no 
time any serious objection to the general proposition of protecting this country from 
foreign insect pests which might be accidentally introduced on nursery stock. 

Following the action of the Association of Nurserymen in 1908, in refusing to enter- 
tain any further consideration of a national inspection law, the subject of a national 
bill was dropped by all the interests theretofore concerned in such a measure. 

THE IMMEDIATE DANGER LEADING TO THE PRESENT EFFORT TO SECURE LEGISLATION. 

The recent effort to obtain a national quarantine law resulted from the discovery, 
early in 1909, that brown-tail moth nests, filled with hundreds of small hibernating 
larvae, were being introduced into this country in great numbers and distributed to 
many States on imported European nursery stock, chiefly from northern France. 

This state of affairs was repeated during the importing season of 1910. Time will 
not be taken to give the details of the shipments and distribution of infested nursery 
stock during these years. .Some idea of the situation can be gained, however, from a 
brief summary of importations and foreign conditions drawn largely from the annual 
reports of this bureau, by Dr. Howard, for the years 1909 and 1910. 

Brown-tail moth nests imported in 1909. — The first discovery of nests of the brown-tail 
moths in foreign nursery stock was in a shipment of seedlings from Angers, France, to 
New York. The discovery was made and reported to this bureau by the commissioner 
of agriculture of that State. A little later, advices from Ohio indicated that the winter 
nests of the brown-tail moth had been found upon seedlings imported from the same 
locality in France. Warning letters were promptly sent out by Dr. Howard to the 
different State entomologists, and a special arrangement was made through the kind- 
ness of the Secretary of the Treasury with the customhouses and by agreement with 
the railroads, so that the bureau was notified of all cases of plants received at the 
customs ports or handled by the principal railroad companies. By this means the 
receipt and ultimate destinations were ascertained of probably all the imported stock. 
The bureau was thus enabled to notify state inspectors and other competent persons 
near the points of ultimate destinations of such packages, and inspection was brought 
about in probably all instances in the cases of plants received after January, and also 
probably before that time. In all, information was secured concerning nearly 800 
shipments, divided among 35 different States. In shipments to 15 of these States, 
namely, Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachu- 
setts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Penn- 
sylvania nests of the brown-tail moth were found, and in one locality in Ohio a single 
broken egg-mass of the gipsy moth was found. These brown-tail nests, each containing 
four to five hundred young larvae, were found by hundreds^in these shipments, some 
7,000 nests (2,800,000 larva;) being found in the shipments to New York State alone. 
Prof. P. J. Parrott, of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, at Geneva, 
N. Y., also found in his summer's inspection still another European fruit; pest, Hypo- 
nomuta pndella, which had probably been introduced on these same French seedlings. 

Bronm-tail moth nests imported in 1910. — In the importing season of 1909 and 1910, 
in spite of promises on the part of French authorities to see that proper inspection 
should be made, the shipments of nursery stock from France again brought to this 
country many brown-tail moth nests. Moreover, one shipment of nursery stock 
from Belgium to Louisiana contained an egg cluster of the gypsy moth. All of this 
imported European stock was again followed up, so far as possible, by a continuation 
of the arrangement referred to of the pre^dous year with the Treasury Department 
and customs officers and by agreement with the railroads, and probably most of the 
shipments of 1910 were inspected at their destinations. 

Of the shipments of 1909-10, 291 were found to be infested with nests of the brown- 
tail moth, and these went to the States of Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, 
Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and 
Virginia. 

In most of these States the inspection referred to was made by State officials. In 
other cases, where there was no State service, inspection was carried out either by 
employees of the bureau or by expert collaborators appointed for the purpose. 

Investigation of European nursery conditions. — During the summer of 1909, and 
also again in 1910, Dr. Howard, who was in Europe principally to supervise the intro- 
duction of parasites for the gypsy and brown-tail moths into Massachusetts, made a 
careful inspection of the nursery regions of Holland, Belgium, and northern France, 
and also England . 



IMPORTATION OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. H 

The writer was in Europe, on a personal trip, in the summer of 1909, and made an 
examination of similar conditions in Holland, Belgium, and parts of Germany. 

Holland probably presents the cleanest bill of health in the matter of insect pests, 
and particularly of the gipsy moth and brown-tail moth. This country enjoys a good 
inspection service, and all Dutch nurseries are carefully inspected twice each year, 
BO there is probably less danger now from shipments from Holland than any other 
country. 

Belgium in 1909 was in very bad condition, and the writer found the brown- tail moth 
more abundant there than he had ever seen it, hedge rows often being plastered with 
the winter nests. The location being only a few miles from the border of Holland, 
is within easy flight of the moths to large Dutch nurseries. Belgium has, however, 
since September, 1909, established an inspection service applying only to nurseries 
exporting to America and limited to field examination, twice yearly, of growing 
stock. While a distinct improvement the inspection as indicated is still inadequate 
as shown by infested stocks still coming under official certificate. 

In France, in 1909, Dr. Howard found no governmental inspection system of nur- 
series. The certificates attached to shipments of nursery stock received in this 
country from France were signed, as a rule, by men connected with agricultural 
schools, and probably in the case of most of the certificates the stock had never been 
seen by the expert. At least the conditions of the stock coming to this country 
during the last two years naade it abundantly plain that these certificates were 
valueless. 

Nursery stock for export was found, in many cases, to be grown in the vicinity of 
hedges and trees infested with the brown-tail moth and gypsy moth and other injurious 
insects not yet introduced into the United States, and no special precautions were 
being taken by nurserymen to prevent the infestation of this stock by injurious pests. 
The brown-tail moth nests are so characteristic and noticeable that it is only by mere 
carelessness and inattention on the part of French exporters that they are packed for 
shipment without removal. 

As a result of the agitation of 1909, the French exporters promised to take all possible 
precautions, and the French ministry of agriculture promised to found a governmental 
inspection service, but, unfortunately, the Chamber of Deputies failed to pass the 
inspection law proposed by the ministry of agriculture. As already noted, the con- 
dition of the inspected material of 1909-10 was no better than in the previous year. 

The director of agriculture of France, however, continued to urge the need of a 
plant-inspection service for export nursery stock, and early in November of this year 
(1910) this department was advised, through the Department of State and the ambas- 
sador of France to the United States, of the final estalDlishment of such service. Later 
the detials of the law were communicated to Dr. Howard by Dr. Marchal, who is 
charged with its execution.^ 

Dr. Marchal's high reputation gives a guaranty of thoroughness, and a great improve- 
ment may be expected in the future in the condition of the nursery stock coming 
from France. 

In England Dr. Howard found that, as in France, there was no governmental 
nursery inspection. The nursery conditions there are somewhat better than in 
France, but the brown-tail moth and other injurious insects which might easily be 
imported on nursery stock, occur in England. The officials of the government board 
of agriculture of London stated that the Government had the establishment of a 
governmental inspection service under consideration and were willing to establish 
such a service, but the demand for it must come from British nurserymen. An 
attempt was therefore made by Dr. Howard to get these interests to ask for such 
service, and, while no action has yet been taken, it seems probable that the English 
Government will move in this direction. 

Significance of the importations of 1909-10. — It is scarcely necessary to comment on 
the tremendous danger which the importations of nursery stock of the seasons of 
1908-9 and 1909-10 has for this country. The enormous cost of the gypsy and brown- 
tail moths in New England is now well known. Throughout the infested districts 
of New England orchards have been completely destroyed and forests obliterated, 
and even where woodlands and parks have been protected at enormous expense, 
their beauty and value have been vastly lessened. 

As elsewhere indicated, the United States Government is now spending $300,000 a 
year in a mere attempt to check the rapidity of the distribution or dissemination of 
these pests, and the New England States affected are now spending more than a mil- 

1 See the New French Plant Inspection Service, by Dr. L. O. Howard. 



12 IMPORTATION OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. 

lion dollars a year in efforts at local control. Extermination is entirely out of the 
question, and all these expenditures must go on indefinitely at a probably increasing 
rate, unless some check by natural means, such as that by parasites, can be brought 
about. When it is realized that these two pests have been distributed on imported 
nursery stock throughout 15 States during the last two years the danger to the whole 
country is evident, and this danger applies to every orchard and to every nursery, 
and to every owner of private grounds, and also to our entire forest domain. 

The actual value of the importations of nursery stock which are thus jeopardizing 
the entire fruit and forest interests of this country is comparatively small, although 
doubtless important from the standpoint of the nurserymen. It consists, for the most 
part, of seedling stock — apple, pear, plum, cherry, and ornamentals. The value, as 
declared for customs, of such importations during each of the years 1907 and 1908, of 
which we have tabulated records, amount to about $350,000, practically the sum 
which the United States Government is expending annually in endeavoring to limit 
the spread of the gipsy and brown-tail moths in Massachusetts, and one-third the sum 
which the New England States are expending annually in attempting to control 
these pests. 

The stock of the last two years which has been most infested has come from northern 
France, accumulated from various smaller or larger nurseries, including a French 
seedling agency managed by an American corporation, composed largely of New York 
mu"serymen. Of the stock imported from these districts, some of it, on the statement 
of the nurserymen, which is not to be questioned, is much better than similar stock 
grown in this country. This applies particularly to pears, cherries, plums, and 
quinces. Apple seedlings, up to a few years ago, have been largely of American 
growth. The establishment of this French-American company and the growth of 
foreign importations has resulted in a great deal of such stock being now obtained 
from France. Mr. F. W. Watson, of Topeka, Kans., in an article in the National 
Nurseryman for January, 1910, page 437, on American-grown apple seedlings, states 
that from twenty to forty million of American-grown apple seedlings are used in this 
country every year, the production of about a dozen nursery firms. The bulk of the 
seed used comes from France, and therefore is of the same stock as the imported 
French seedlings. 

Admitting the necessity for the importation of such foreign stock, it becomes all 
the more imperative that such stock should be subject to proper inspection and that 
every possible means should be taken to safeguard this country from the introduction 
of new plant enemies. 

RENEWED EFFORTS TO SECURE NATIONAL LEGISLATION. 

As soon as this new danger from brown-tail and gipsy moths became known, a 
national quarantine inspection bill was prepared by the writer, in consultation with 
Dr. Howard, relating solely to imported nursery stock, with the object of meeting the 
immediate emergency and protecting the country from these two very serious pests, 
as well as to furnish future protection from other foreign insect pests and plant dis- 
eases. The main objection to the earlier bills was avoided by eliminating altogether 
the subject of local inspection of nurseries or supervision of widely distributed pests — 
a field which has been taken up efficiently in many States, and is more or less covered 
in all. In other words, the measure was drawn to apply solely to imported nursery 
stock and to new and locally established pests. 

This new bill (II. R. 27367) was reported by Mr. Scott from the House Committee 
on Agriculture in January, 1909, was unanimously recommended by this committee, 
and passed the House. It was then reported from the Senate Committee on Agricul- 
ture and Forci^try by Mr. Long, without amendment, and would undoubtedly have 
become a law in due course if objections to its passage had not been made at this time 
by the legislative committee of the American Nurserymen's Association. This com- 
mittee came to Washington and presented to Dr. Howard and the writer their objec- 
tions to certain features of the measure, and inasmuch as it seemed possible to adjust 
some of these objections and there was not time to effect this immediately (as any 
compromise would have to be again referred to the Association of Nurserymen), after 
consultation with Mr. Scott, the chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, it 
was decided to withdraw the bill for that session and endeavor to meet the objections 
of the nurserymen so far as practicable without materially detracting from the value 
of the measure. 



IMPORTATION OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. 13 

This bill, in important features, was the same measure now presented to Congress 
for action. Its chief divergence from the present bill is that it provided for inspection 
of imported stock at port of entry, a proceeding which undoubtedly would give this 
country the greatest possible protection and is the rule in foreign countrie-/ 

The nurserymen, however, held strongly that such examination would probably 
result in serious injury to or loss of stock, and in view of this and the further considera- 
tion that examination at the port of entry would necessitate considerable expense for 
warehouses, this feature was dropped, and in its place inspection was provided for at 
point of destination, thus meeting the main objection of the nurserymen. Further- 
more, the new bill, to enable the department to have advice in advance of the intended 
importation and of the date of probable arrival of nursery stock to be inspected, pro- 
vided for a permit system similar to that now in force in the case of importations of 
domestic live stock or other animals and birds. 

This revision was carried on by correspondence and included several changes 
wished by the nurserymen in addition to the main point of examination at final desti- 
nation. Nevertheless, the nurserymen failed to give their full approval to the bill, 
and at their summer session of 1909 they suggested a modified bill.^ This was the 
Scott bill, with a good many features eliminated which are believed to be absolutely 
essential to the safeguarding of the country. For example, the substitute bill pro- 
posed by the American Association of Nurserymen omitted (1) inspection in the 
country from which the importation is made; (2) the indication of the country or 
district in which the stock is grown; (3) provision making the fumigation or disin- 
fection at the expense of the owner or consignee; (4) the provision for placing a quaran- 
tine, so far as any particular kind of plant is concerned, of any foreign district where 
such plant is known to be infested with a dangerous insect pest or plant disease not 
now in this country (sec. 8 of the bill now before Congress); and (5) other sections 
weakened by the omission of necessary certificates and of penalty for counterfeiting 
or willfully altering the same. 

It will be seen from these omissions that the substitute offered by the nurserymen 
was hardly one to meet the emergency and fully protect the country. The important 
objection of the nurserymen had been met in the omission of examination at port of 
entry, and it did not seem wise to yield on these other matters vital, in the judgment 
of this department, to the protection of the country and, at the same time, not neces- 
sarily imposing any hardship or restrictions on the importing nursery business. 

In December, 1909, this nurserymen's bill just discussed was submitted to a number 
of State horticultural inspectors at their annual meeting in Boston, and, at the sugges- 
tion of the latter, two provisions were added which had been eliminated by the nur- 
serymen, namely, that providing for a foreign certificate to accompany imported stock 
(sec. 2) and also the section empowering the Secretary of Agriculture to extend the 
provisions of this act to fruits, vegetables, and other plant products not specified in 
the act should occasion for such action arise. A minor amendment was also inserted 

1 The growing fruit interests of Canada are protected from foreign pests, including those now established 
in this countrv, by comprehensive quarantii e regulations, which are very strictly enforced. As a rule, 
these require the examination of imported stock at port of entry and 1-efore its distriliution. An interesting 
statement, shoving the feasibility of such examination at port of entry and the results of this governmental 
care, is given in a recent report to the Department of Commerce and Labor by Consul General George N. 
West, of Vancouver. (Daily Consular and Trade Report, Aug. 30, 1910, p. 054.) Speaking of the rigid 
inspection of nursery stock and the development of the fruit interests of British Columbia, Mr. West, in 
part, sas's: , ^ •, 

" The'growth of the fruit industry in this province may be gauged by returns of imported nursery stock 
which the provincial inspector of fruit pests has recently trarismitted to the Government. The number 
of trees and plants inspected at Vancouver v ere as folio s: During the first four months of 1910, January, 
592,002; February, 103,184; March, 767,152; April, 1,255,718; total, 2,718,056. The inspector expects that the 
numlier of trees and plants to arrive durmg the other eight months of 1910 will bring the total up to 4,000,000. 

" Every tree and plant is inspected as it passes tlirough the station. This entails a vast amomit of labor. 
Owing to this rigid inspection I efore the stock is delivered to the buyers for planting in the great Okanogan, 
Similikanieen, East and West Kootenai, and the boundary country, there is not a trace of the San Jose 
scab or the liro-^^-n-tail or gypsy moth. The equal freedom from the coddling moth corroborates the state- 
ment that the nursery stock received for planting purposes is subject to most rigid inspection, as well as 
fruit imported from eastern Canada, United States, and other countries. The importance of this fact to 
fruit growers can hardly be overestimated, as it enables them to guarantee the somidness of fruit to pur- 
cli3S6rs * =1^ * 

" The inspection of fruit coming into British Columbia is rigid and effectively enforced without partiality 
to the section in vhich it is grown, eastern Canadian fruit l;eing condenmed as quickly as American if it is 
not clean and free from all kinds of insects and pests. Therefore, American shippers to the markets of 
British Columl lia should see that their fruit and the packages it is shipped in are clean and free from pests 
of all kinds, otherwise it v ill 1 e condemned and losses will occur on such unclean shipments. 

This statement shows that the oi jection to examination at port of entry is largely theoretical, and 
undoubtedly a larger protection is secured to a country by this method. 

« Nat. Nurseryman, July, 1909, p. 212. 



14 IMPORTATION OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. 

in the first section providing that shipments of less than 1,000 trees or other plants 
may be inspected at port of entry. The latter provision is an impractical one, inas- 
much as it would require just as much machinery to make exarnination of the smaller 
shipments as it would to examine the entire foreign importations, and would entail 
a needless expense. 

The important feature omitted from the original nurserymen's bill was again 
omitted from this compromise measure, namely, the power given the Secretary of 
Agriculture to quarantine against the Introduction of particular plants from any for- 
eign district where such plants are infested with insects or disease new to this coun- 
try and particularly such as can not be kept out by inspection or disinfection . Several 
of the minor, but nevertheless important, omissions already noted in the case of the 
first draft of the nurserymen's bill characterized also this substitute measure. 

Inasmuch as these omissions were deemed vital defects in the measure by the 
authorities of the Bureaus of Entomology, Plant Industry, and the Forest Service of 
this department a new bill was drawn up, embodying the amendments agreed upon 
between the nurserymen and this department and retaining the features believed to 
be necessary to safeguard the country from the introduction of new pests. 

Shortly after the opening of the second session of the Sixty-first Congress Mr. Sim- 
mons of New York, at the request of his local constituency— fruit growers and nur- 
serymen— reintroduced the Scott bill of the previous session (H. R. 156o6, Dec. Itt, 
1909). The new draft referred to in the preceding paragraph, providins for inspection 
at final destination, and introduction by the permit system, was submitted to Mr. 
Simmons, who promptly introduced it in substitution for the bill which he had already 
presented and it was referred to the Committee on Agriculture and ordered printed. 
(H. R. 23252, Mar. 21, 1910.) 

This bill, as already indicated, had been altered to meet the demands of the nur- 
serymen in every particular which it was felt could be done without materially affect- 
ing the usefulness of the measiure. Nevertheless, the same nm-serymen's committee 
which appeared the previous year again came to Washington and made active objec- 
tion to the measure, chiefly on the score of section 8, and, as a result of this objection 
and the peculiar conditions of that session of Congress, which made it almost impossi- 
ble to enact new legislation, this bill went over to the next session of Congress. A 
lengthy hearing, however, was given on this measure before the House Committee 
on Agricultiu-e, participated in by representatives of the Bureau of Entomology and 
Plant Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture, a committee from 
the nurserymen's association, and a number of individuals representing horticultural 
and nursery interests, also the State entomologists of the States of New Jersey, West 
Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland. All those appearing before the committee were 
heartily in favor of the measiu-e as it stood, with the exception of the nurserymen, 
■who objected to section 8.' 

Before the adjournment of this session of Congress, however, the bill was reintro- 
duced by Mr. Simmons, with a few verbal corrections suggested by the House Com- 
mittee on Agriculture (H. R. 26897, June 15, 1910), and is on the calendar, and will 
come up for action this winter. ^ "^ 

STATUS OF OBJECTIONS TO THE BILL NOW PENDING. 

The imperative need of a measure of this kind is universally admitted. All of the 
great fruit-growing and forestry interests of this country are unanimously and heartily 
in favor of this bill and have been very anxious for years for legislation of this kind. 
A great many producing nurserymen also are in favor of the bill just as it stands. 

The final objection on the part of the importing nurserymen is to section 8 of the 
bill, which, as already indicated, provides for the quarantining of foreign districts 
containing some particular insect or disease infestation on particular plant or plants 
and new "to this country. This section is intended to apply particularly to such 
insects or diseases as can not be kept out of this country by inspection and disinfection, 
a condition which merely to state demonstrates the necessity for this section. Inas- 
much as the design of the bill as a whole is to allow importations of stock from districts 
which are infested, for all of central Europe is infested with brown-tail nioth and gipsy 
moth, it is patent that for these and similar pests there would be no object in quaran- 
tining any special district; but in the case of insect pests or diseases which have not 
yet gained a foothold in this country it is a matter of very great importance, in view of 
our past experience with such pests, to give them no chance of entrance, and this can 
be gained only by absolutely prohibiting the importation of stock from districts where 
these new and dangerous insects are known to exist. Inspection is not infallible, 

' These hearings are published under date of Apr. 27, 1910, and give a very complete representation of 
the pros and cons of the proposed bill. 



IMPORTATION OF DISEASED NURSERY STOCK. 15 

and there is no method of fumigation which can be absolutely relied upon to be always 
efficient to the degree of 100 per cent. Therefore, to keep such new enemies out of 
our country the only method is to prohibit the introduction of stock which is-likely 
to bring them in. As shown later on, however, the necessity for this action will 
probably rarely occur, and will little affect the general importing business. 

That the action of these importing nurserymen does not represent the general 
nurserj- business throughout the United States is evidenced by the testimony of other 
nurserymen before the House Committee on Agriculture and letters on file in this 
bureau. Furthermore, the thousands of nurserymen throughout the country have 
interests exactly identical with those of the fruit growers, and are just as much inter- 
ested in having protection as are the former.' 

The need of such quarantine under thi^i section will rarely be called for on account 
of injurious insects, most of which can be detected by inspection or destroyed by 
fumigation. There may, however, arise insect dangers which will require the enforce- 
ment of this section, and it is very desirable to have the provision in the measure to 
meet such emergencies, as, for example, insects or their eggs or other stages within 
plants or seeds which can not be seen and are beyond the reach of fumigants. 

In the case of plant diseases, however, this section is of vital importance, and the 
experts of the Bureau of Plant Industry of this department and plant pathologists 
generally unite in indorsing it. Prof. Galloway, Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 
in a letter to Chairman Scott, of the House Committee on Agriculture, dated April 29, 
1910, says: ' 

"Section 8 is the most important part of this bill, so far as the control of fungous 
diseases is concerned; and I judge is much more important in this relation than in 
relation to insect pests. For the present, the legislation called for in this section 
would be directed only against the diseases known as 'potato wart' and 'white pine 
blister rust.' So far, potato wart is on this continent only in Newfoundland, and 
we want to quarantine against Newfoundland, in order particularly to protect the 
potato-growing sections of New England. Inspection for this disease is not practical, 
on account of the large quantities of potatoes which may be imported, making it 
physically impossible to examine each potato; and for the further reason that the 
early stages of the disease are difficult to detect by inspection. 

"Ninety-five per cent of all the blister rust of white pine now in this country has 
come from one town in Germany; we want to be able to quarantine against this 
town and other places where we know positively that the disease is or has recently 
been present. Inspection is here, again, not practicable, because the disease in- 
cubates inside the plant, and can seldom be detected until it breaks out on the surface 
of the plant, several months, or years, after it has been received in this country. 

"So if this bill were passed without section 8 it would, from the standpoint of this 
bureau, be of very little ser\4ce against these diseases." 

The objection of the nurserymen, therefore, to this section seems to be unwarranted, 
and the more so as the other provisions of the bill would empower the national au- 
thorities to destroy such infected stock promptly on its arrival at destination, so that 
the nurserymen would simply have the added expense of the original cost of the 
stock and of transportation. It is difficult to believe that a proper appreciation of 
the conditions will not lead importing nurserymen to abandon their objection to 
this section. 

A misconception seems to have arisen in the minds of several of these importers 
in regard to this section, namely, the belief on their part that the power of quarantine 
granted by this legi.slation will check all importations from quarantined districts. 
As a matter of fact, the quarantine will apply mei-ely to the particular plant or vege- 
table product which carries the danger; in other words, a quarantine against the 
white-pine disease would have no bearing whatever on the importation of fruit seed- 
lings or ornamentals other than pine. 

With relation to the attitude of the importing nurserymen and of the National 
Nurserymen's Association, it should, in faii-ness, be said that these interests have 
always expressed then- desire to promote legislation to protect this country from new 
insect pests or plant diseases which might be accidentally introduced on nursery 
stock, and the objections voiced by them have been to the details of the various 
measures presented to Congress rather than to the general principle. 

In conclusion, it may be added that the same permit, inspection, and quarantine 
system has long been the law in the case of imported live stock, representing much 
greater values, and has worked to the entire satisfaction of importers. 

I The National Nurser3Tiian of May, 1910, p. 581, in an article on the inspection bill urges, editorially, 
even a broader application of the principle involved in sec. 8, namely, that "the United States Entomol- 
ogist * * * should have such authority as will permit him to exclude importations from nurseries or 
regions known to be infested with injurious insect pests or from nurseries flagrantly careless with reference 
to_ these enemies." , », ^.. Sm 



16 



IMPORTATION OF DISEASED NURSERY e 



NATIONAL VERSUS STATE CONTROL. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 973 097 2 



The question has arisen, and properly so, in the discussion of the iieed of a national 
inspection and quarantine law relating to plants and plant products imported from 
foreign countries, whether such inspection and quarantme is not properly the duty of 
the States and need not, therefore, be undertaken by the National Government. In 
considering this question, the absolute essential to protection must not be lost sight 
of, namely, uniform and competent inspection of all imported stock in whatever State 
or Territory it reaches its final lodgment. If it could be predicated that each State 
would establish and maintain a competent inspection of such stock and could always 
be advised of its arrival, the object aimed at, namely, protection for the whole country, 
might be secured without a national law. In point of fact, the interests of the States 
are so dissimilar that it has been impossible in the past to get the same efficiency in 
the case of the inspection of local nursery products, and the same condition will apply 
to imported stock. A few States with large fruit interests have competent officials, 
and inspection and quarantine are reasonably efficient. In other States, including 
many where the fruit interests are very considerable, the present inspection is gravely 
wanting in efficiency. 

A careful examination of this subject was made last summer, and the officials of 37 
States reported on the status of existing inspection machinery. Of these 37 States, 
14 reported the service as not good, 7 as doubtful, 12 as generally good, and 4 as unquali- 
fiedly good. It is worthy of note, however, that of the four reporting as unqualifiedly 
good, only one has an adequate system of inspection and control, the others being 
among the least protected. 

Left to the States, the examination and control of imported stock would fall into 
about the same condition as the existing inspection and control of locally grown stock, 
as shown by the above statement. Any laxity or carelessness in one State would in 
the end vitiate all the good work of the others. 

Fm'thermore, a good many provisions of such law would have foreign relations, 
namely, the requirement for a certificate to accompany the stock, and quarantining 
of foreign districts when such action becomes necessary, and these matters could not 
be properly undertaken by the several States. With national control, the whole 
work could be coordinated and made uniform and the largest amoimt of protection 
would undoubtedly be gained. The existing State machmery and officials would 
necessarily be employed in this work where available. The cost of such inspection 
will probably not be large, and on the present basis of importations of stock of the 
customs value of about 1350,000 annually, it is believed that this irispection and 
protection can be secured at a probable annual cost of $25,000. 



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020 < 



Metal Edge, Inc. 2007 PAf. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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